Iternational Cooperation

The tree beekeeping culture of Poland and Belarus has been added to UNESCO’s list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It becomes the second Polish tradition recognised by the UN agency, and takes its place on the list alongside the likes of Cuban Rumba and Chinese calligraphy.

The practice of tree beekeeping, records of which date back to the 13th century, seeks to create natural living conditions for the bees in tree and log hives, with as little human interference as possible. Hives are often deliberately located in hard-to-access places to keep them isolated.

According to UNESCO, tree beekeeping culture is based on knowledge acquired through lifelong contact directly with the bees and their environment, and is traditionally passed on within families. It also includes an array of culinary and medicinal traditions.

"Today, beekeeping is preserved in many villages of the Lelchitsky district, it is found within the Petrikovsky, Loevsky, Zhitkovichsky, Yelsky districts of the Gomel region, Stolin and Pinsk districts of the Brest region. Individual beekeepers are found in Grodno, Minsk, Vitebsk regions. Onboard traditions are also kept in certain regions of Poland and Ukraine," the Ministry of Culture said. The forest beekeeping of Belarus on the example of the Lelchitsky district of the Gomel region in 2017 was included by the Ministry of Culture in the state list of historical and cultural values of Belarus as a complex element of cultural heritage, which absorbed not only the material, but also the spiritual part of culture. The culture of forest beekeeping has become the fourth Belarusian element included in the lists of the intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO.